


Avatar: Advanced Reasoning

by TheRisingSun777



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar State, Bending (Avatar), Fantasy, Fiction, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:00:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27156959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRisingSun777/pseuds/TheRisingSun777
Summary: Ben is the Avatar. He lives in a world full of superstitious beliefs and questionable motives. Will he figure out who he is in time to stop his secretive foe, or will he fall in vain, leaving the Avatar as nothing more than a mere myth of the past?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. An Event with The Exorcist

Imagine waking up to find someone accusing you of being a demon. And now imagine that man spilling water against your skin, when you had been sleeping nicely, and feeling quite well within your sleep. It isn’t exactly the most pleasant awakening.

He held up the cross towards my chest, and started shouting in Latin. I looked towards him silently, waiting.

“Are you done?” I asked, when he ran out of holy water, “Because I really need to go to the bathroom, and...I’m like ninety percent sure my mom finished making dinner.”

It really had felt like this man had taken all day just to get a small vat of water emptied. Yawning, I sat up as much as I could within the chains wrapped around my wrists, and scratched at my chin.

“Listen, I’m sure you think you’re doing what’s right...But this is  _ really  _ annoying. I had this plan, where I was gonna go out into the field beside my house, and I was gonna play around a little bit.”

There were these windmills, and...It was hard to explain, but it was fun.

The man started speaking in Latin again, and I rolled my eyes; one of the few things you learn in life is, Christians really don’t know how to stop. He grabbed another vat of water, and sprayed it against my skin. Now, he was wiping sweat from his brow, as if all of this was taking more effort out of him than exercising could.

“Mom! Can I please have some dinner!! Or breakfast? This man is taking forever!” I shouted past his yelling Latin.

The man kept talking, and nobody replied, of course they didn’t, they believed that I was possessed. Everyone in this damn place thought I had a demon. Leaning back in bed, I grabbed my blanket. The man took the blanket and ripped it off of the bed. We stared towards one another. That was... _ annoying. _

_`_ “Really? You’re just gonna do that? C’mon, at least let me sleep through your exorcism.” I complained.

The man kept on speaking his Latin, and I looked up at the ceiling. It really wasn’t  _ right  _ to chain someo-

Water splashed into my eye. It didn’t hurt, but it bothered me. I really wasn’t one to get angry…(Which might be a lie) but this man, he’d been doing this for three days, and I’d been  _ trying  _ to tell my parents, or anyone else who would listen, that I  _ wasn’t  _ possessed. But because of this man, I’d had barely any contact with them. And I had really,  _ really,  _ been looking forward to going outside.

“Dude, I’ve been on my best behavior for the last five weeks, and yesterday you said I was free to go, and that I was ‘cleansed’. I even acted  _ everything  _ out for you. Did all of the rising objects and shit. You and I, we had a good run. You just don’t know, when to fucking,  _ stop. _ ”

The chains around my hands bursted apart. He looked towards me with widened eyes, and started speaking even more Latin, seemingly desperate. He spoke and spoke, getting faster. I, for my part, did not hurt the man, I just got out of bed.

“You will not leave this room demon!” He shouted desperately.

I opened the door, and walked out of my room, Suppressing my want to do something  _ really  _ bad to him. When the door opened, I saw both mom, dad, and grandma standing there.

“Grandma, politely, why did you chain me down last night?”

She, for her part, seemed at least mildly surprised. We looked towards one another, and she glanced towards my parents. After a moment, she seemed to gain the courage of the group to speak.

“You’re sick, Ben. You’ve been sick, you’re  _ possessed. _ ”

I suppressed a chuckle, as I know how that would look, “Says  _ who?  _ The man behind me?” 

My grandma choked up. She was one of the main offenders. She and the preacher, earlier in their life, had had an interesting little affair. An affair of which I was privy to knowing about. It was rather interesting, how quickly people gave away their secrets. He was rather angry that she was making him go through with all of this. Primarily because my grandma... didn’t know about half of the shit that I could actually do.

“Mom, dad, you actually agree with allowing her to go through with this?”

Before this, when I had shown my primarily bizarre aptitudes, they had called it a miracle; not a spawn of a demon. Yet here they were, going through with something they knew was wrong, and saying nothing. My mom knew about the affair her mom had had with the preacher, and yet hadn’t said anything about it, judging it as not that useful of information. And here they all were, steering my life in a direction it really didn’t need to be steered.

They didn’t say anything. Or rather, I didn’t give them the option to. Walking past all of them, I went out into the fields, and started  _ running  _ towards the windmills. 

When I finally got there I breathed in a deep, careful sigh. The general whishing sound of the windmills caught up in my ears. Even if I could hear them running towards me in the background, the main thing I could hear, was the wind. It moved, whishing here and there into my veins, playing part in an endless vessel of events. Another breath escaped from my lungs, and into the open air. A memory sparked at the edges of my consciousness, one I had been putting off for quite some time.

_ “Why don’t you just run away? If they’re going to start trying to exorcise you, you can just, just  _ go! _ ” _

The words reverberated around my mind. It...it made terrifying sense now. To want to run, to get as far away from them as I could. Looking back towards the running forms, I recognized how capable I’d be of it if I wanted to. 

“Hey dad! Why don’t you tell mom about that one night!” I shouted out across the field, “Why don’t you...Why haven’t you ever told her!”

Mom stopped, looking towards dad, I smiled for just a moment. The preacher and my grandma kept running towards me. I took a careful breath in, and backed away. The windmills were still moving in that space behind my ears; with a careful breath, I jumped.

The wind swished around me, moving my body upwards with it. I landed at the top of one of the windmills, and looked down. The face of the preacher was pleasantly surprised. He still hadn’t been able to use that third object, the one that I was  _ truly  _ afraid of.

Both the preacher and my grandmother, stared up with looks of shock. I smiled down at them, but said nothing. Only my mom and dad knew, and they had promised, promised….They had once said they wouldn’t tell anyone, because I was their little airbender.

Dad could do it too… He had shown me before, that he could do it too...And he had taught me.

I closed my eyes, forcing back whatever was threatening to well up. Of course they had acted like they didn’t know anything about my ability. When the preacher came to the valley’s. They had said that it was probably a demon. Agreeing in that way grown-ups do, when they’re about to punish you for something you never did. With a deep breath in, I jumped to the next windmills, feeling the wind surge through my body, and around my skin. It swept into my hair, rearranging the world around me. Thoughts became lucid and strong forces, as my mind calculated the depth of the fall, and how much air would be needed to stop my descent enough to make sure my legs took minimal shock. The back of my brain was swishing with the air, becoming a lucid movement all its own. Until finally, I landed at the edge of the next one. There would be awhile needed to go. But wherever I am going now, I’m sure I’ll get there.


	2. The City Of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben makes his way towards the city of light! His thoughts are arrested upon his journey, however he soon finds himself within the all-encompassing city.

I was walking against the grass, looking up for any hints of the city. I don’t know exactly where it is, but I thought I really should to be there by now. A couple of hours ago, I had used most of my power up making an air disk. It was an ability that I’d thought about for awhile, and had at one point, considered impractical. However, after a lot of effort, I was able to make a disk-like formation, that I could use to surf the air itself on. I had never been able to get it higher than a couple of inches off of the ground, but it was rather useful for accelerating to higher-speeds. Unfortunately, it drained me rather quickly, meaning I didn’t rely on it all that much.

From what I’d heard about the city, using the elements wasn’t as, superstitious, as it was at home. People actively used it to enhance parts of their lives, which meant, if I went there, I might actually be able to be accepted. I walked on, giving myself as much hope as I could to get along the way.

After what felt like another hour of walking, I started to feel doubtful. What if the city was even further away than I’d accounted for? What if I ended up starving myself by walking along the country-side? The thoughts flashed through my head, as I rubbed the circles under my eyes.

It inevitably came to the point, that I collapsed against the ground. It was too hot, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Staring up at the sky, my thoughts began centralizing around the fact that I was completely screwed. I really shouldn’t have left, I should’ve just let the man do whatever the hell he had been intent on doing, and gotten over with it, not running away, and getting lost in the middle of god knows where.

Losing hope is, an easy thing to do. Losing hope is an easy thing to do.

I repeated it in my head. Losing hope is an easy thing to do. Losing hope has always been an easy thing to do. Breathing in, I pushed myself, swiping the sweat from my forehead, and finally, kept on walking. Losing hope is always an easy thing to do, which meant that it was all the harder to refuse. If losing hope was more difficult to refuse, it often times meant that it was what life wanted me to do. But I wasn’t going to just turn around, and go back to that preacher who only did what he did because he didn’t want to refuse my grandmother. Breathing in again, I kept on walking, towards wherever the hell I was going.

It happened to be the middle of the night, when the chanting started. I looked up from the cave, that I now realized, really didn’t fit in with the surrounding area. Getting up, I stared into the night. There were five men twisting around in a circle outside, all holding balls of fire. They danced once, thrice, and then four times. They kept on going, and going; I stared in awe.

“W-what are you guys doing?” I asked, walking out of my cave.

One of the men looked towards me with widened eyes, and another, pointed a ball of fire in my direction. I froze. I’d never dealt with bandits and raiders, but I’d read a  _ lot  _ about them from fantasy stories. If these men were  _ tribal _ and not from any of the cities….

“U-uh…” I stumbled out, not quite sure what I was supposed to say to diffuse this situation.

“We’re dancing,” One of the men said, after giving a placating hand to the men pointing fire at me.

“Y-yeah, I got that...Um, what are you dancing about?”

“To bring the Avatar back.”

I said nothing. I was aware of the Avatar. The church that we had gone to, said the Avatar was a man inhabited by four demons, whereas most benders were only inhabited by one. I had never believed it, but...I had read some stories about men and women with four powers, and they had always seemed terrifying to me. How could someone with so much power handle it, and  _ not  _ end up corrupt?

“Forgive me for asking, but what is dancing going to do?”  
“We are hoping the Gods of the Spirit Force will bring him back upon us, to bring peace to lands that have fallen into darkness.” The man said, peacefully.

I nodded, “Okay…” It was the first time I’d been presented by a belief other than that of the church, and hearing this was equally as ridiculous to me, “I’m gonna, leave, if that’s okay with you.”

The man smiled, “Of course it is alright. You have no needs to stay, as this ritual is not yours.”  
“Good! I mean, thank you...Umm, yeah.” I quickly walked away from the group of religious folk.

Something about them had made me nervous. Perhaps it was the masks they’d all been wearing, or maybe it was the fact that two of them, upon sighting me, presumed to murder me right then and there. Upon further reflection, it was likely the latter.

I walked for most of that night, and upon dawn, I was surprised to find the city in sight. 

It stared towards me in all of its glory, the spiring towers, and great structures built out of fine metal and stone. There were places adjourned in a fiery of colors, and paintings outstretched from long wooden rods. I stared out towards the self-named City of Light, and walked without even registering my own movements.

From what I’d read, it was the oldest of the Technological Revolution. It was still before the time of the Enlightenment, but from what I’d heard, even before then, people had begun to craft automobiles, and other such machinations. According to my history books, this had all happened at least six hundred years in the past. I was surprised when I read that, because the technological boom that happened after that, happened so quickly. Inventions that people back then couldn’t even imagine began sprouting up out of nowhere. Phones, Laptops, even Video Games and other such things began to bloom from the frameworks. It had gotten to such a point in luxury, that in one novel I’d read, people had been able to refocus on the fundamentals of bending. I’d gotten to that point in the book, and had excitedly told one of my teachers, only for the book to be taken away. My small little town had  _ not  _ believed that bending was a purely natural phenomenon.

A statue still sat in the water of this city. It was one of the oldest historically recorded Avatars. Avatar Aang. Of course, as far as I believed, the Avatar themselves were just myths. It didn’t make sense for some spiritual force to decide who became the master of all four elements. If they  _ did  _ exist, we would’ve found a genetic mutation within them. Or at least, scientists would attempt to, using the technology we had as of this moment. It wasn’t much of a sure thing, and most of DNA was still guessing. Scientists hadn’t quite been able to figure out exactly which genetic instruction went for specific sorts of bending. When they did, they would likely be able to manufacture a way to make  _ everyone  _ able to bend. That is, if society required it, and it was the most ethical thing to do.

When I found myself in the city, I blinked, I hadn’t exactly expected to just,  _ appear _ . Of course, I’d spaced out, but realizing that didn’t make the space-out any less jarring. I walked through the city streets, and stared out towards all of the sights. There were people milling across the street, getting to their jobs. One man slapped his hand against a car, and yelled something with an accent that jarred him to listening.

“Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” The man yelled, before getting along with his way.

If I looked towards the man, it was almost obvious what he’d be able to bend. Earth. He looked like the spitting image of an earthbender, if a ‘spitting image’, was even inherently possible. The man certainly seemed to be attempting it.

It seemed, I noticed, that I had walked in-between two office buildings without even realizing it. People were walking in and out of the building, some of them, I saw now, were even relaxing on the outskirts of the grass, looking out, and breathing serenely.

My head swivelled back into the direction of the city, and I took it in in all of its magnificence. The city itself seemed large, and yet, when you looked up, you could see that it was even larger in height. There were great stone and metal archways, connecting the buildings that were built upon an even higher level. People were driving and walking on those too! I could make them out through bits of glass on the ground-level. A part of me was tempted to see if I could jump all the way up there.

I turned towards someone beside me, “Hey, is flying illegal in this city?” I asked, glancing towards the height above.

“Not that I know of. But, I’ve never really studied most of the complex laws,” The man, I presumed a fire bender, said.

“Okay...Thanks. Umm, on curiosity, what charges would be accosted against me, if I jumped all the way up there, and accidentally ran into someone?”

“I don’t know, I guess assault…” The man stopped, “Hey wait, are you an airbender?” He asked.

“Yeah...Why?” My heart sank, as images of him suddenly calling a priest came into my mind, I really, really hope-

“Why aren’t you with the Air Tribes.”

“The what?” I replied, blinking.

“You...don’t know about the Air Tribes.” The man said, eyes widening, “Hold on, look up for a second, past the city, and towards the distant skyline, over around...Thataway.” He pointed in a general direction.

At first, I didn’t see anything, but, after a moment, I noticed the vague hints of rock, pointing out over the clouds in the distance. My eyes widened, when I noticed that those rocks, weren’t connected to any land at all. Each and every one of them, was floating against the clouds.

“That…” But I didn’t know what to say, just looking at it...Looking at it brought tears to my eyes, “I…I never knew.” I said, looking off to that great horizon.

It was beautiful. None of the books I’d ever read had shown something like this. None of them. And there they were, floating in the sky, suspended only by the air, only by the element that I had learned to call my own.

“H...How do I get there?” I asked, when I managed to wipe away enough of the tears to see them clearly again.

The boy, who was perhaps only five years older than me, smiled, “Well, you’ll have to talk to the resident Airmaster of the city. Once you’ve proven that you are indeed an airbender, he should send you up after that. Than, well...Than you’ll get to learn all of the skills that you’ve only ever dreamed of.”

I couldn’t help myself, so I said, “Can you bring me to him?”

He laughed and shrugged, “Sure, why not? Follow me.”


	3. Belief Conformity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of abuse, and implications of extreme bullying.
> 
> As Ben makes his way to the airmaster, he and his new friend, Brice, encounter a waterbending girl inside of a fast food joint.

“...And this, is a popular burger shop that most kids hang out at. Over there, is my favorite little cafe, oh, and there’s a book shop over there too. Though you might wanna be careful, because you could burn the...Oh, right, you’re not a firebender. Sorry, I get really excited when I’m showing people around my favorite places.”

“I think you should be a tour guide,” I commented, looking around the city.

We were on the third floor. The cafe, was on the fourth, the ramen shop seemed smudged in-between, which was really weird, until you figured out that a lot of the buildings had built-in elevators. My new friend had decided, that instead of bringing me to the airmaster right away, he wanted to give me a tour of the city. So that, was what we were doing, and I, for my part, felt completely overwhelmed, and yet, strangely at peace.

There was so  _ much _ . It was absolutely  _ insane _ , so much more than what my town had been like, so overwhelmingly bright and vibrant. People were walking along beside us. Some were talking about their day with friends, others were rushing here and there. One man, had actually shot into the air, using a mix of a random man’s earth bending, and then their own firebending. It was insane to watch.

“That’s almost illegal.” The boy beside me said.

“Oh? Why it looks really cool.”

“Maybe people would’ve been allowed to do it in the olden days, but we have a lot of safety regulations when it comes to bending like that. He probably has some licence or other, otherwise, he’d be fined, and likely jailed for it.”

“Huh. But...You said you didn’t know that much about laws!”

“I don’t, I don’t!” The boy protested, “I just know the laws of firebending, promise.”

“How did you know I wasn’t a firebender?” I said, acting offended.

“Heh, I don’t know...I just kinda felt it. Dad once told me that we were able to feel things others couldn’t somethin’ about the energy in the air, y’know?”

I decidedly, did not know, but decided not to say it.

We walked into the burger joint, much to my surprise, “It’s alright, I’m paying! I want you to have a little somethin’ from the city before you go up to the temples.”  
“Hey thanks, but...It’s really not necessa-”  
‘No, c’mon, I insist. Plus, I got enough cash on me anyways! I’m descended from a line of rulers.” He said with a wink.

“A line of rulers?”

“Yeah, bunch of insane crazy dudes. Besides one guy, he was kinda okay, not as insane, but still not quite on the right edge of sane either.”

“You don’t seem on the ‘right edge of sane’ yourself.” I commented.

“Ah, that’s a low blow.” He said, slamming his shoulder into mine.  
“You’re a low blow.” I said, slamming into him.

“Well you’re a cheap shot!” He slammed me even harder.

The world tilted and twirled. I slammed into a waitress who happened to be carrying five drinks. They tilted towards the ground with absolute certainty. I didn’t have time to even  _ think  _ of anything. Yet before I could try to do something with my airbending, the drinks stopped in midair.

“Did I just unlock another bending ability?” I asked, a slight crack in my voice.

“No, you dummy, the waitress is a waterbender.” My friend said behind me.

I nearly laughed, and then remembered the situation I was in, “Umm...I’m sorry.” I commented, scratching the back of my head.

“N-no need.” The girl said, forcing the drinks back into their cups, and walking by me as quickly as possible.

“U-uhh…?”

“Let’s go find ourselves some seats, alright?” The firebending boy said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, dragging me to a random child.

“What was with her?” I asked, when we got ourselves settled.

He looked around conspiratorially before answering, “From what I’ve heard, she’s had a really troubled past. I haven’t been able to gather much information, but she’s having a lot of problems today too. There’s this group of earthbenders that pick on her everyday, making her trip, or nearly spill the drinks she’s been carrying. I’ve been trying to keep a lookout for her as best as I can, but today probably blew it…” Than, more to himself, “Damn.”

He was afraid to ask, but, “What do you mean by troubled past?”

The boy looked towards me, and then to a menu, he had a crease in his eyebrows, and I could see an anger blooming within his eyes.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, she grew up with schizophrenia, and extreme paranoia. Her parents believed that they were demons, or something of the sort, y’know, religious people. They brought a priest over when she was nine, and...He, lashed into her skin. The holy water that he brought, it was boiling hot, meant to make it look specifically like there was a demon within her. He burned parts of her flesh, just to make it seem like there was actively something wrong with her.”

I stopped cold.

“Where is that preacher?”

“Died five years ago. Heart attack.” He looked up from the menu, “I’ve been here everyday, trying to help where I can in the dark, y’know? I don’t think she even notices me here, and if she does, I likely make her a bit nervous...I don’t know man, it sounds ridiculous but…”

I shook my head, “No, I get it...Have you ever tried talking to her?”

“I did once, she...Didn’t respond that much, just nonverbal nods. I’m a bit to, I guess, motion-ful, and probably should’ve kept my hands towards my side, but when I was thinking about it, I felt like that would make a person more nervous…”

“Well hey, at least you’re trying. Who are the earthbenders?” I asked, looking around the room.

“You might not be allowed to hurt them because of laws, but with an airbending treatment, nobody will know where the wounds came from.”

“Dude, you can’t. If you do that, you won’t be able to join the air tribe.”

“What? Why not?”

“Right, I forgot, you don’t know that much. Okay, the air nomads are strictly non-violence, they’re sort of like, pacifists, I guess.”

“And so if I want to join them...I have to adopt their ideals?”  _ Like being part of a religion…….I  _ **_hated_ ** _ that. _

“Basically, yeah, or at least from what I’ve read. But...Don’t worry, I think I’ve got this on my own.”

“Well, what have you been doing against them?”

“Small little things. Like, there was this time when…” He trailed off.

The girl was standing in front of them with a pad and pen. She wasn’t making eye contact, but occasionally, she glanced across the room. Ten people had just walked in, and were getting seated at some booths across the room. Nearly immediately, I could recognize them for who they were meant to be. Not only from the shaking of the pen along with the glances, but from the other boy’s glare.

“Umm...I’ll just have a soda, please?” I said, staring at the menu.

For just a moment, I saw a strange curdle against the side of the menu. Reaching down a finger, I wiped away a...Dark smudge? It was ash. When had there been ash on my…

“Ay yo, over here! We’d like to get our food some time soon!” The voice was sickly sweet, and immediately crawled up my nerves; it took every ounce of strength within my bones to just sit and and stare at a menu.

When she walked away with our orders, the boys and girls over at that other table starte catcalling even louder. No other patron within the shop seemed to care.

“I’m gonna walk over there, and jab their fucking eyes out with this fork.” I said, reaching.

“Don’t.” Was the only word I got.

I looked up, “Well what do you suggest we do?”

He was smiling, “Well, we never did tell each other our names, and if we’re gonna do something insane, we might want to do it discreetly, and have an alibi if everything goes wrong. Mine’s Brice.”

“Good to meet you Brice, I’m Ben.”   


\---------------------------------7

It didn’t take long to figure it out. We looked towards the tables, and patiently waited. Our own drinks had been abandoned, and we stared across the room, waiting for them to get theirs.

“W-w-would you like a refill?” A voice came from beside me.

“Umm…..No, I think I’m okay, thank you though.” I said carefully, unable to keep part of the emotion from my voice.

When the drinks clattered against their tables from the help of two others waitress’s, our plan was set in motion. I looked towards the cups, and carefully waited until the people serving were out of sight, than, I mustered up a very carefully controlled wind canal, one just small enough to go unseen, and yet just bit enough to keep itself in motion. Than, when it got closer to the list of back-row benches, I let the air flow out, tipping all of their cups towards them, or against them. Then, as the waters and sodas were spilling against the earthbenders, Brice lit the laces of some of their shoes on fire, with carefully controlled hand maneuvers, and flames that he had already lit before. 

Chaos was quick to unfold. People scampering up, shrieking from the cold, and then jumping in surprise from the fires against their shoes. About twenty of the who knew how many, rushed off and out of the store, drinks unpaid for. After it was all over, Brice did something even more grandiose, and yet almost self damming. He walked over to the list of tables, and placed three hundred dollars against one of them. Then, he motioned towards me, and we walked out, unscathed.

“That was….”

“Absolutely insane?” Brice laughed, “Yeah, I know. I don’t think I’m ever gonna get away with something like that again.”

“...I, don’t think we got away with it.” I said, pointing at the door to the shop.

The store’s manager slammed through the doors. He stared towards the two of us, fixing us with a glare.

“We were only trying to-”  
“Shut up!” I jabbed him in the side.

“You were only trying to  _ What,  _ Brice.” The man said his name with an even sharper edge than the ‘what’ before it.

“I-I… I was trying to help. You know that she’s being bullied by them! They deserved some payback for what they’ve done!” He shouted in the street, I could tell he was starting to get desperate, “You can’t just let them walk in every day like that, pushing someone around who isn’t capable of fighting for themselves yet. You can’t just  _ l _ et that happen.” His voice was starting to crack up, and I could see tears welling in his eyes, “It isn’t fair, and you know it isn’t.”

The man seemed stunned. The red in his face turned into something of a confused yellow, and he took in a deep, careful breath, before trying to speak.

“What you did today, was selfish, Brice.” He breathed in again, and continued, “Perhaps if you had spoken with the one being bullied, and consulted  _ her _ first, and figured out if it was something that she wanted, than it would’ve been fine in my eyes. As of today, however, you will be banned from my shop for three months, and if you ever assault a customer within my shop, without the specific request of someone being hurt by them, then I’ll never let you in again.” The man walked inside, and consulted the young lady.

“I……” He didn’t say anything, blinking for long moments, I carefully led him from the shop, and into one of the side buildings. He sat down against the floor, and placed his hands into his hair, “I am such an idiot.”

“It’s not directly your fault,” I said, sitting down beside him, “I’m the one that pushed you into it.”

“But it’s not just that! I’ve been doing this kind of shit, for almost an entire  _ year _ , and I never once...Never  _ once _ , asked if it was something she wanted, and I’m just, ugh!” He shot a fireball out of his fist. 

It slammed through the open air, before dissipating into smoke. He wiped away a tear, which had left a thread of ash against his cheek, and breathed in.

“You still need to get to the airmaster, don’t you?” He said in a choked whisper, “Alright. Let’s just….Let’s go and get it done.”

\---------------------7

We walked in silence for most of the way to the Airmaster’s Palace. At least, he had called it the Airmaster’s Palace. It was one of the few things he had explained. It wasn’t so much of a palace, it was just something people liked to call it.

When we got to the place, three men with weird bō like sticks by their side. They stared towards the two of us as we walked closer, but said nothing as we moved past them

_ If they’re guards, than I’d say they’re doing a rather horrible job at the whole guarding thing.  _ I thought, as we walked into the ‘palace’.

It was a room. Perhaps a little bit big for just one room, but it almost seemed like we had just walked into a bedroom. There was one man, sitting at a desk, and he was reading.

“Heyuh, we’re here to see the, umm…”

  
“The airmaster.” Brice finished fore me, “We’re here to see the airmaster.”

  
The man smiled, looking up from the books that he’d been reading, “Well, you’re seein’ him here right now!” The man used a loft of air to lift himself off of the chair, and landed in front of us, “What might I help you two with?”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is meant to show the dangers of Belief Conformity, hence the title name itself. More specifically, how conforming to the set belief-system of a society, or sector of society, can lead to people being brought into extreme pain.


	4. The City In The Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben makes it to the air temple, and is greeted by a sight most beautiful to him.

“I see…” The man drawled, looking over me with a strange, inquisitive eye, as if he was seeing something I couldn’t.

He tapped the side of his forehead, ‘And you come from the country, I would presume?”

“Umm...Yes,” I said, glancing towards Brice, uncertain of what was supposed to happen next.

He clearly didn’t seem to know either.

“Uhh, d-do I have to demonstrate my abilities, or…?”

“Yes...Likely, sorry, I’m a bit caught up in my thoughts, trying to think of ways to introduce a new airbender such as yourself to the tribe, you understand.” The man reflected for a moment, “Is there anything you can do beyond the basic bending?”

“This room is a bit small for it, but yes, there is something I can do, if I may..”

  
The man nodded to me, “Go ahead.”

I wasn’t sure I had enough energy, but I tried anyways. My hands swished, as I jumped, twirling into the air. Energy surged in a circular formation, almost similar to that of a tornado, before turning into a disk just above the ground, upon which I landed.

The airmaster’s eyes widened, and a smile perched against his lips, as he leaned forwards.

“It is an imperfect iteration of Master Aang’s technique,” He muttered to himself, “Would you mind keeping that up for just a little bit longer?”

“Sure!” I said through the strain, “It’s a bit difficult, but…”

“Yes, of course it is difficult. The mass amount of energy you would have to put into keeping yourself aloft on pure air is unimaginable, even for some of the best airbenders….”

The strain eventually got to me, and I floated back down onto the earth of the building.

“You said something about it being an imperfect technique?”

“Yes, quite, I will teach you the proper technique once you become a proper airbender. Mastery, if you are already at a stage similar to this, will likely not be all that difficult for you.”

“Really?” I replied.

“Really. Now, let us get down to the business of making you a proper airbender, yes?”

\---------------------------7

The robes themselves felt, strange. They were really loose on my skin, and a couple of moments would pass by where I’d feel worried that I wasn’t wearing anything at all, or that the robes had slipped off. I had said goodbye to Brice, and was now walking at the top of this strange building, upon a rather thin bridge. The airmaster was beside me, talking about a lot of logistics that I wasn’t too interested in. However, there was something he’d mentioned, something about bison.

According to the airmaster, each child was born with a bison as their counterpart. An animal within the world that was purely adjacent to them, almost as if they were acting as a spirit animal. I, for my part, found it mildly ridiculous. But then again, the spiritual things just didn’t make sense. How could there be an entire spiritual realm that only a few people saw? That kind of thing just didn’t make any logical sense. It was the same as the church claiming that avatars were people possessed with four demons.

They walked along that thin bridge, until finally, they made it to a cliff-edge. The man in front of him stopped, and looked towards the sky

“I have one test for you, before you can join the tribe and commence your learning.” The man said, almost ominously.

“W-what is it?” I asked nervously.

The man pointed towards the sky, “You must fly,”

I stopped, staring towards the man in frank disbelief. I had jumped up a few miles, sure, used air as a canal to push my body upwards, or created my disk to hover a short distance. But this? There was no way I could use my body just to, propel forwards. That was the kind of thing you read in superhero stories, the ones you smuggled from a friend’s house one night. I couldn’t just throw myself into the air like that, and expect the air to carry me, there was no way.

“With this.” The man continued, bringing up a long, staff-like thing.

I walked over and grabbed the staff, feeling at least more than slightly confused, as when I grabbed it, a gigantic wing like thing spread itself out above me.

“D-do I like, hold on, he-” My voice was lost to my screams, as I was pushed off of the cliff towards certain death.

The world twirled around me in a chaotic formation of colors and synapse-firing thoughts. My hands steadied themselves against the rod of wood, as my thoughts began to transmit into the air. All I really needed to do was steady myself out, and then I’d be fine.

_ Hopefully hopefully, hopefully hopefullyhopefullyhopefullyhopefully.  _ My thoughts rang out into the bowels of my mind.

For a moment, the world stopped spinning, and I evened out just enough to use the air around me. I forced the thing upwards, but, it just wasn’t working. My weight was dragging the entire thing down. Desperately, I looked towards the back, just then noticing the two other extensions. I threw one foot back, managing to hook it behind that one, and struggled with the other, as I span through the open air.

Managing to get my other foot latched on, I looked towards the sky in desperation. All I needed to do now was...Was…

The world turned dark as I closed my eyes. Wind rushed against my entire body. Within this darkness, I was the wind, an eternal source, with no such thing as death to claim me. I focused upon the wind, felt myself as I rose higher, and not towards the ground. I focused upon the amount of force it would take to lift me high enough to go where I wanted to reach, the momentum that would need to push me, for I was a heavy wind, more similar to a frisbee, flying into the sky.

My senses slowly regathered themselves as I opened my eyes. Wind was howling through my ears, pushing me forwards, lifting me into the sky. It was twisting and originating, steadily rising me upwards, and up. I looked towards the fixture high within the sky, one with rock tumbling down below, and I flew with the wind, feeling and utter sense of elation as I flew to meet the buildings above. 

I cheered of my success as I got closer, and a few of the people down below looked up to see me. Some of them waved towards me, and I released a few fingers to wave back.

The feeling...This feeling….

As I flew down, down from the fixtures of the sky, and more towards the land of these floating isles, I quickly noticed a new predicament. I did not know how to land, and I was meeting the ground  _ fast _ . My body slammed slid against the floor, as I let go of the thing I had used to fly, and came to an abrupt stop. Groaning, I stood myself up, and dusted off my shirt. A couple of the people around me were chuckling.

“First time?”

“Yeah.” I replied, to the man that walked by me.

“Next time, take your feet off of the back when you get close to the ground. Use the wind to halt your speed,” He said, before going on his way.

“Uhh, thanks.”

The airmaster came to a halt beside me, “That was Master Araishi, he is famous for recoveringTthe Four Principles of Bending, an old philosophy book from the Era Of Harmony.”

“Oh? Can I read it at some point?” I asked excitedly, the chance to read a new book was always something to have.

He chuckled beside me, “You will find, that every person within the air tribes at large, has gotten a copy. You could even buy one from the local shops below, I imagine if you didn’t get one for free, you would likely do so.”

“I’ll be getting one for free?”

The man looked towards me with a slight smile upon his face, “You do not even know what this book is, and yet you jump at the opportunity to read it?”

“It’s not that difficult to conclude what something is when it has a title akin to ‘The Four Principles of Bending’.” I replied.

“Well yes, I suppose,” The man paused, “We are getting off-topic, aren’t we? You will need a room for the night, until we make accommodations to give you a living space of your own. Come, I believe I know of some people who would be glad to have you.”

We walked throughout the air tribe, him occasionally giving remarks about some of the more ancient buildings. There were places where specific artifacts had been placed, things from a long, bygone era, and others remade after the reformation of Avatar Aang.

This place itself was thriving, so utterly. People were bustling through, on their way to specific places. Others were meditating. Some were moving the wind, dissipating and guiding storm clouds away from the top of their buildings, or even such other things. They all looked so, happy.

As we went along, I felt tears gathering in my eyes again. It was so...Beautiful. People were moving with the elements, responding and using it within their everyday lives. All of this was almost like a daydream come true for me. In only a day, I had gone so far from breaking off those chains with a force of gathered up air….

Eventually, we made it towards a small hut, where a man was working upon a garden.

“Ah, Irashi!!” The man said fondly, “What brings you here today?” He glanced towards the boy, “Have you finally taken up an apprentice?”

The airmasters shook his head, which, mildly disappointed me. It would be rather amazing to be the apprentice of a man who had the ability to be claimed the apprentice of the actual airmaster. Someone who had mastered airbending to such an extent, that they were seen as the tribe’s strongest.

“Rather, I was hoping you might be able to take him in for the night? I will be finding him accommodations first thing within the morning, I promise as much.” Irashi continued.

“Of course! Of course, I’d be happy to help our young new bender!” The man said with a smile.

“That’s great! Might I leave you with him, as I gather the clothes he will wear as part of the tribe?”

“If it is what you see fit to do.” The man said with a bow.

Master Irashi bowed back, and walked off swiftly, seemingly floating with the force of his air.

Whilst Irashi was gone, I did what I could to help the man with his plants, watering some, pulling out the weeds for others, and even occasionally helping him with a larger project that he was doing. His wife was in the house, and it was rather difficult to keep this specific project a secret, so I was doing my best to distract her. That was around the time that Irashi arrived again.

“Ah, Irashi!” Exclaimed the wife of the man that I had been helping, “It is so good to see you! I heard you were here earlier from this young lad.”

“Yes, indeed. I have come back bearing a few gifts for him, in fact. After this, I am afraid I will have to leave early for my tower, urgent business to attend to.”

“This, was custom made for your weight and length.” He handed me a large stick, “I had some earthbenders and waterbenders make it, as well as the stylistic flare of a particular firebender.”

I flicked it open after he taught me how to, and stared at the red and black design. The red came in spirals leading out from the edges, twisting and twirling in great drapes across the black, getting infinitely smaller as they branched off of one another. It was wholly unique and…

“I love it…” I whispered, once more having tears threaten to overwhelm me, “It’s….”

“Now stop, you might make me get emotional as well…” Irashi said with a smile, “Now, here are the robes that you will be wearing,” He turned to leave, but then stopped himself, “Tomorrow you will meet with the Elders of the tribe. They, along with the airbenders looking for an apprentice, will decide who you are apprenticed to. Be there when the sun reaches the middle of the sky.”

I nodded, “T-thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Now, I must go,” He walked from the house briskly, and into the light of the steadily setting sun.


	5. The Spirit Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious place awaits Ben.

I woke up upon the cot that I had been given, but, something was...changed, altered. The first, and perhaps most simple thing, was that the house was gone, and I was in the middle of a jungle.

Slowly, I pulled myself up, and looked around wildly. There were thousands of animals that I had never seen, just roaming around me. A great behemoth of a monster was walking above me. It’s steps crash landed throughout the forest, causing deep rumbling sensations all around me. I moved to study it, when suddenly, a monkey with limbs twice as long as its body, collapsed into the grass in front of me. Its face was made entirely out of eyes, and it had a strange runic symbol upon its neck. When it spoke, that symbol lit up.

“Well hello…”

“W-what is this place?”

“This…” The monkey answered, “Is the spirit realm.”

“B-but...But that’s impossible. A spirit realm  _ can’t  _ exist.” I replied, looking around, trying to pinch myself, to see if I had any feeling.

The synaptic feedback told me that I did indeed feel something. Wildly, I tried to look around for something to hint to me that all of this was false. 

“I’m dreaming.” I stated.

It didn’t cause anything that was supposed to happen when you had a lucid dream. I was left merely staring at this monkey with arms twice the length of its body, who seemed to be waiting for something. Just as I was about to say something else, it spoke again, causing me to jump.

“Why can’t a spirit realm exist? If you might explain.”

“I...It’s...It’s impossible! Spirits, everything, all of that, it’s utter bull, it has to be! How could a spirit exist within the body, or how could the entire world have a  _ spirit _ ? There’s no observable proof of such a thing, so therefore there is no possibility that it could exist.”

“You are observing it at this moment. Is that not proof enough?”

I choked, and then coughed violently, stepping away from the monkey.

“No...No, it just...It doesn’t make sense.”

The monkey sighed, a reverberation that echoed against the back of my skull, and steadily became louder. The monkey then, sat down.

“You are correct in assuming that this is not a spirit realm.”

“T-than what is it?”

The monkey smiled, or at least I thought it smiled. The feeling was very paradoxical.

“This, my young one, is a parallel universe to yours, that somewhere, perhaps one trillion millenia ago, became not-so-parallel.”

“So like….”

“My universe and yours, collided with one another. However, they collided in such a peculiar way, that mine became an after effect upon yours. Meaning, that there are certain people within existence, that can find their way here, and then back again.”

“O-okay. So...That means, that I, ended up here? Perhaps by some sort of freak accident.”

The monkey did that smiling without lips thing again, which left my brain twisted up in knots. I stared away from him, but the sensation decided to adamantly stay within my mind, creating a bizarre system of illusions, or perhaps hallucinatory effects, within my brain.

“Not quite...I called for you, brought you over into my universe, for this little conversation.”

“W-why?”

“Because, my dear friend, you, are the avatar.”

I stopped, “I’m the what?”

“The avatar.”

A choked laugh came from my throat. This weird monkey was claiming that I, an airbender who had just managed to find a temple, was the one to master all four elements. It was utterly, it was...The thought was more than ridiculous. 

“Yes...I can see within your mind, that you believe it to be a false notion. I can assure you, however, that it is not. I have waited for quite awhile to bring you here, and it is only now, from the air temple to which you were laying, that I was able to reach you.”  
“B-but...But….” I sputtered, unable to figure out exactly what I was trying to protest, “But I’m just me, a kid with air bending, there’s no Way!!”

“My dear friend, there is a way. Now, I beseech upon you to take a gift of mine before you leave. It is something small, but when you meet the great airbenders tomorrow, it will help clue them in as to who you are.”

The monkey lifted from within his long arms, a necklace. It had upon it embroidered, the four different elements, with a peculiar symbol sitting within the middle. The symbol was a glowing eye, intersecting within it the four different colors of the other elements. When I grabbed it, the shift of the light seemed to shift the colors themselves, combining and making ten thousand different fractals, of the same yet changed shades.

“Will they allow me to keep it?” I asked, staring towards the necklace, it was, beautiful.

“This necklace exists as the space between our two universes. It is meant only for the avatar. As such, it will never leave your side, so long as you live.”

“What...What is it?” I asked, unsure on how to phrase my question, not even sure of what I was asking about.

“Energy.” The monkey’s voice echoed, spiralling me outwards, and into a sudden sea of darkness.

\-----------------------7

My body surged forwards. I looked around. Light was passing, just barely against the horizon. For a moment my heart dropped, believing it to merely be that of a dream. Yet...a cold feeling rested against my left hand.

Just as it had dropped, it picked up again. Fire, air, water, and earth. Within the middle sat the peculiar symbol, merging all four into the space of an eye.


End file.
